


A Conversation with EMIYA Alter

by search720p



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26384821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/search720p/pseuds/search720p
Summary: EMIYA Alter isn't quite performing as a Servant, so Chaldea's Master decides to give him a pep talk
Kudos: 4





	A Conversation with EMIYA Alter

In the halls of Chaldea there are many Servants. Heroes from the past, present and future come together for the restoration and protection of humanity. I’ve come to meet countless faces, from all walks of life. Today in particular I’m here to see one servant, an anti-hero: EMIYA Alter…

I walk into his quarters, a dim and colorless place. The walls are adorned with a wide array of weapons from antique swords to modern firearms. He’s there tinkering with his latest projection, it’s some sort of variation of his twin pistols Kanshou and Bakuya but they give off a faint, cybernetic glow. I’m quite nervous to break the silence, I came to have a pep talk of sorts with him but he’s never been the… social type. Before I can take my first breath to speak he stops his work and turns around, startling me.

“To what do I owe this visit, Master?” He asks, as if I’ve rudely interrupted. In all fairness, I suppose I forgot to knock… “Oh, uh… Hi EMI- I mean Archer.” I can barely squeak out the words. I’ve already forgotten he doesn’t particularly take well to calling him his True Name. He raises a brow, visibly ticked off but he sighs in the end. I guess he saw I made even the slightest effort to correct myself and let it go. Good, his sharp gaze is enough to make my knees buckle! “I just came to… talk you know, abo-,” he immediately cuts me off, enough, he says. 

The Alter scoffs and continues his work, his back turned he continues: “I know why you’re here…,” the gunman fidgets and proceeds to tinker with his handguns, “it’s my performance in battles, I’m lacking aren’t I?” He knew… the snide man, the self proclaimed emotionless weapon understood why I was here. My combat advisors, servants like Zhuge Liang and Hektor who observe me during training and live battles, they all echoed the same thought: He’s too weak.

I can only hum in agreement. How do you tell a man who prides himself in being a self-proclaimed weapon, a man with a constant chip on his shoulder, how do you tell him he’s not strong enough? The worst of it all, it’s not even his fault. His unaltered self is an excellent Servant of the Counter Force. He may not be a high tier Servant but his adaptability and near infinite store of weapons and tactics make him a formidable foe and powerful ally. Alter is much the same but sadly his body is deteriorating, his memories are all but gone and his fellow Servants see him for what he’s lost and what he’s become: A hollow shell of a being. My nervousness turns to shame; here I thought one pep talk was enough to get him back on his feet. What a farce.

We sit in silence fully aware of why neither of us can continue the conversation. The hum of projection magic is the only thing keeping the air of awkwardness from fully enveloping me. “I’m sorry,” is all I can say. My head hangs low and I try my best to formulate something resembling a sentence. “I’m sorry the world is against you, I’m sorry that you’re basically withering away.” My mouth is on autopilot, though it feels like I’m gathering the strength to give a real awe inspiring speech. “But you can’t let that get to you.” I can hear him fidgeting, he’s clearly not happy to hear what I have to say but I'm feeling a swell of emotion inside and I have the need to continue anyway. “You come from one man, with a name you scorn, but still you were once him. He believed in justice, he believed in the protection of mankind.” He tries to cut me off but I don’t care. He needs to hear this, even if it hurts...especially if it hurts. “You still believe in that don’t you?” Instantly he whips around, Kanshou and Bakuya in hand. I’m on the floor, my face pinned down by the heel of his boot and the dual pistols pressed to my temple. “Shut up you! What the hell do you know about me? You think you can stand there and tell me how to live my life?! I’m a Counter Guardian, I kill and slaughter to keep the world safe. There’s no justice in that, there never was… even my other self knows that.” there’s a bit of mana leaking from his right eye… tears? I can’t tell as I’m still pinned to the floor, his boot impressing its sole into my face. He begins to laugh hysterically as if his spiel triggered some… memory in him. “So you’re the master who saved humanity from incineration, huh? You seem to be a real speech giver when it counts. Get your ass up… Master.” He lifts his foot and withdraws his handguns, though he doesn’t offer me a hand or anything...dick. 

I rub my head where his boot was a moment ago, still feeling the ache of his heel. I think back to what he said… “Master”. So he finally acknowledges me, though he has a terrible way of showing me. He returns to his chair and continues his work but there’s something different about the air in the room. It now has a peaceful aura to it, like a doubt had been cleared or the like. “I know what I have to do now, I have to be an ally of justice in my own way. My battle with Kiara threw me off my game… I discarded everything to stop her and her cult but it left me empty. However, I now know I can retain my old ideals in a new way. I may not be some cringey kid rambling on about justice or some deluded adult who thinks he can still be a hero. No, I’m something else now: an enforcer. People will die, but others may live because of that.” He stops and gets up from his chair. Kanshou and Bakuya morph into a sort of twin bladed staff, and EMIYA Alter takes a firm stance towards me. “ I am EMIYA...EMIYA Alter. In a past life I threw away my ideals and my sense of self to become the perfect weapon. But no longer will I delude myself.” He tosses his top aside, he reveals to me and the world his deteriorating body. Golden mana pulses from vein-like orifices all over his body, contrasting with his burnt-black skin. He traces his left hand all over his deterioration and proudly proclaims: “I am an Enforcer of Justice.”

Later that week, during training Alter and I headed to the Pseudo-Singularity Shinjuku to test his new resolve. He revealed to me his Noble Phantasm, Unlimited Lost Works, underwent some changes after the pep talk I gave him. He didn’t give me the details but with demonstration against an automata enemy gave me all the info I needed. The robot was completely shredded, Alter’s Reality Marble pierced it from the inside out, swords and weapons protruded from open orifices. Normally, that’s what it would look like but now… it was deadlier than ever, more efficient. This is my resolve, he proclaimed to me and I couldn’t agree more...


End file.
